AIMA WELCOMES CAPITAL MARKETS UNION PROPOSALS

London – 30 September 2015: The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the global industry body representing alternative asset managers, has welcomed the publication today by the European Commission of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) Action Plan.

AIMA said the CMU Action Plan is an important step towards the creation of a fully-functioning capital markets union in Europe.

AIMA also said it welcomed the European Commission’s commitment to assess whether financial regulations passed since the crisis have made it harder for businesses to raise capital.

AIMA called for more research and a greater policy debate on several issues that are critical to the CMU, including provisions for loan funds, before any legislative solutions are contemplated. In terms of securitisation, another important piece of the proposal, AIMA said it hoped that the final version of the regulation could be improved to permit non-bank originators and sponsors to participate in the market while also making it easier for asset managers to invest in securitisations.

AIMA CEO Jack Inglis said: “We support both the ultimate goal of a capital markets union and the broad direction of travel that the European Commission has laid out in this Action Plan. As with all these things, the devil is in the detail. We look forward to engaging constructively with all stakeholders in Brussels as they continue to develop this important set of proposals.”

Mr Inglis added: “Our research has shown that the capital markets and their participants play a key role in facilitating economic growth and prosperity. Most policymakers now recognise the social utility of market finance, which has helped to fill the post-crisis lending gap and has enabled ordinary businesses to access the capital that they desperately need for growth. Now we need to take the extra steps of dismantling the remaining barriers to non-bank finance.”

In a paper released by AIMA last year [1], a clear link was shown between economic growth and the size and liquidity of the capital markets. A separate AIMA paper [2] earlier this year found that alternative asset managers, as providers of non-bank debt finance, play an important role in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and could become a significant part of the SME funding mix within the next five years. Given bank lending to SMEs is likely to continue to decline, funding from the private debt industry as an overall percentage of total SME funding in the European Union could reach levels of 15%−20% within the next five years, according to the research.

Ends

Notes to editors

[1] ‘Capital Markets and Economic Growth – Long-Term Trends and Policy Challenges’, March 2014. To download a copy, click here: www.aima.org/download.cfm/docid/5D6152C4-C9A0-4FDA-B2DD415168ED658B. To download an AIMA position paper on the research, click here: www.aima.org/download.cfm/docid/7E7766E3-A0FA-4C21-A471A21E879EEA9D

[2] ‘Financing the economy - The role of alternative asset managers in the non-bank lending environment’, May 2015 - www.aima.org/en/document-summary/index.cfm/docid/A509C9FF-F7C5-4772-9148D8A687B1573C

For media enquiries, please contact:

Dominic Tonner, Director, Global Head of Communications, AIMA

Tel: +44 20 7822 8380

Email: dtonner@aima.org

Laura Brooks, Associate, Communications, AIMA

Tel: +44 (0)20 7822 8380

Email: lbrooks@aima.org

About AIMA

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has over 1,500 corporate members (and over 8,000 individual contacts) in over 50 countries. Members include hedge fund managers and other alternative asset managers, fund of funds managers, prime brokers, legal and accounting firms, investors, fund administrators and independent fund directors. AIMA’s manager members collectively manage more than $1.5 trillion in assets. All AIMA members benefit from AIMA’s active influence in policy development, its leadership in industry initiatives, including education and sound practice manuals, and its excellent reputation with regulators worldwide. AIMA is a dynamic organisation that reflects its members’ interests and provides them with a vibrant global network. AIMA is committed to developing industry skills and education standards and is a co-founder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation (CAIA) – the industry’s first and only specialised educational standard for alternative investment specialists. For further information, please visit AIMA’s website, www.aima.org.